


Best Thing I Never Had

by an0ther_dreamer



Category: Much Ado About Nothing (2012), Much Ado About Nothing - Shakespeare
Genre: F/M, Fanmix, Gen, Picspam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-17
Updated: 2014-04-17
Packaged: 2018-01-19 14:49:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1473754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/an0ther_dreamer/pseuds/an0ther_dreamer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Much Ado About Nothing AU fanmix following Hero being heartbroken at the altar and slowly realising that she's better off without Claudio.</p><p>She decides not take him back after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Best Thing I Never Had

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings/Notes: Made for the Fix It challenge at waywardmixes. Spoilers for the entire play. Mild swearing. Picspam heavy.

  **The Story:** _Much Ado About Nothing_ is a comedy by William Shakespeare. The memorable part of the story is the relationship between Beatrice and Benedick, who spend the play being witty and charming at each other and swearing never to fall in love. (I'm sure you can guess how that ends.) However, the main conflict is actually about Hero being wrongly accused of unfaithfulness at the altar by Claudio (her fiancé ). She takes him back at the end of the play, because after all, it was just a mistake. A mistake that involved him shaming her in front of her entire community and Hero only being able to redeem herself by faking her death. That kind of mistake.

 

This is a pattern of behaviour; earlier Claudio is convinced by Don John that his friend and patron Don Pedro is actually winning Hero for himself when he's supposed to be putting in a good word on Claudio's behalf. Claudio immediately believes this shaky piece of intelligence that comes from a character nicknamed John the Bastard (and he is; in both senses of the word), decides that Don Pedro has betrayed him and gives up on Hero. Don John's plan is only foiled when Don Pedro straight up tells Claudio that he's done what he promised he would and Hero's father has agreed that she can marry Claudio.

You'd think this would be enough to discredit Don John ("though I cannot be said to be a flattering honest man, it must not be denied but I am a plain-dealing villain." Act I, Scene 3), but he is still able to fool Claudio and Don Pedro into watching one of his cronies woo Margaret (Hero’s serving woman) at Hero’s window. From a distance, at night he is able to convince them that the flirting hussy is Hero. (Don John, like Mrs Bennet of  _The Lizzie Bennet Diaries,_  is clearly a fan of The Convoluted Scheme.)  Instead of investigating any further Claudio vows to publicly disgrace Hero at her own wedding like the overly dramatic moron that he is. He proceeds to do just that, calling Hero a cheating, lying whore in front of the entire congregation. Hero denies the accusations, but Don Pedro says that he and Don John definitely saw her too. Hero faints and Claudio flounces out with the Dons, leaving the poor girl for dead. The friar that was to marry the couple comes up with a Convoluted Scheme of his own to save Hero's reputation: pretend that she really has died until they can uncover enough evidence to clear her name.

It is revealed that Hero has been framed and that the innocent girl died due to the lie. Claudio says he'll suffer any punishment for his part in her death; then backtracks almost immediately, saying his only sin was making a mistake.  He agrees to marry Leonato’s niece and also to go put an epitaph on Hero’s tomb declaring that she was an innocent before she was slandered to death.

At the wedding the bride is unveiled to reveal Hero, alive and well. Hero says that one Hero died when her good name was slandered, but now that her name has been cleared she’s alive again. "Nothing certainer: One Hero died defiled, but I do live, And surely as I live, I am a maid." Claudio begs her forgiveness, admits that everything was his fault and apologises for being an unrelenting cad.

Actually, he does none of these things, but Hero marries him anyway.

**The Fix:**  Claudio is immature and gullible, has no capacity for modesty or real apology and already came very close to ruining Hero's life.  He ends the play having learned nothing, still open to being easily manipulated by his own pride and feelings and there is no assurance that he won’t fall for manipulation again later. (Flash-forward to a christening a year later, Don John: "He doesn't really resemble his father, does he? I'm just saying...")

The mix follows Hero being heartbroken at the altar and slowly realising that she's better off without Claudio. She decides not take him back after all.

**In Short:**  Fuck you Claudio. You and Hero are never, ever getting back together. Like, ever.

 

  
 

**Speechless by Lady Gaga**  
I can't believe how you slurred at me  
With your half wired broken jaw  
You popped my heart seams  
All my bubble dreams, bubble dreams  
***  
I'll never talk again  
Oh boy you've left me speechless  
You've left me speechless  
So speechless  
I'll never love again  
Oh friend you've left me speechless  
You've left me speechless  
So speechless

**Torn by Natalie Imbruglia**  
I thought I saw a man brought to life  
He was warm, he came around and he was dignified  
He showed me what it was to cry  
Well, you couldn't be that man I adored  
You don't seem to know  
Seem to care what your heart is for  
But I don't know him anymore

There's nothing where he used to lie  
The conversation has run dry  
That's what's going on  
Nothing's fine  
I'm torn  
I'm all out of faith  
This is how I feel  
I'm cold and I am shamed  
Lying naked on the floor  
Illusion never changed  
Into something real  
I'm wide awake and I can see  
The perfect sky is torn  
You're a little late  
I'm already torn  
Torn

**Look What You’ve Done by Jet**  
Give me back my point of view  
'Cause I just can't think for you  
I can hardly hear you say  
What should I do  
Well you choose

Oh, look what you've done  
You've made a fool of everyone  
Oh well, it seems like such fun  
Until you lose what you had won

Oh, look what you've done  
You've made a fool of everyone  
A fool of everyone  
A fool of everyone

**Blindfold Me by Marina and The Diamonds**  
I had a feeling when I met you  
Didn't know liars eyes came in blue  
I smell a little bit of danger  
And got my heart handcuffed to a stranger  
I am a fool to not cut the ties  
That bind the eyes  
That loved you  
Blindfold me  
***  
This type of love don't wanna win

**It’s Only Pain by Katie Melua**  
It's only pain, it only hurts  
I'm only down on the floor  
Where I've been before  
And I'll be here again  
Though it hurts to lose you  
It's only pain

**Origami by Ani DiFranco**  
And I know men are delicate  
Origami creatures  
Who need women to unfold them  
Hold them when they cry  
But I am tired of being your savior  
And I am tired of telling you why

**Bulletproof by La Roux**  
I won't let you turn around  
And tell me now  
I'm much too proud  
To walk away from something when it's dead  
Do, do, do, your dirty words  
Come out to play when you are hurt  
There are certain things that should be left unsaid  
***  
This time baby I'll be  
Bulletproof  
This time baby  
I'll be  
Bulletproof

**Best Thing I Never Had by Beyoncé**  
I know you want me back  
It's time to face the facts  
That I'm the one that's got away  
Lord knows that it would take  
Another place, another time, another world, another life  
Thank God I found the good in goodbye

I used to want you so bad  
I'm so through with that  
'Cause honestly you turned out to be the  
(Best thing I never had)  
Oh you turned out to be  
(The Best thing I never had)  
And I will always be the  
(Best thing you never had)  
Oh, best thing you never had!

 

 

 

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